Wojciech Weekly: The Christmas Edition

Once again Christmas is upon us and apart from presents and family time it means a lot of Bowl Games culminating on Jan 6th, when the Three Wise Men will bring us the Final BCS National Title Game. The full schedule can be found HERE.

Late December means also the hunt for the play-off spot in the NFL, the sad reality that the season across the pond is almost over, however that means that season in Europe is just around the corner.

Because we all are in holiday spirit even I have to turn off my grumpy cat mode and will not address the recent chaos in the PLFA and other controversial issues. I would like to congratulate Team USA on winning the Euro-American Challenge 2013, I hope that for all the players involved it will be an important step in developing their careers.

Winning in the Winter Wonderland

On Sunday I enjoyed another good outdoors practice with the juniors team as I was going through passing drills I had the flashbacks of the 2013 PLFA Tundra Bowl running at the back of my head.

The game between Kozly Poznan - Warsaw Eagles was played in -20 Celsius degrees yet the chill-factor made the scenery real Lambeau like. After the Eagles win I spoke to Coaches of the home-side and the message I got was plain simple. Because of the winter we didn’t have a practice on a full sized field this off-season.

It was totally different approach, that I witnessed during my time with Devils. We practiced outside no matter how much snow was on the field and how low the temperature was. The Penguin formation was introduced at that time, water was replaced by hot tea and there was no better opportunity to test the properties of the thermo insulating properties of Baltimore based sports fashion company. I must say that the most important part of those practices was the team bonding we experienced by coming 1 hour prior to the practice and clearing the field of the snow.

Also the mental toughness was tested while you had to be focused on your job and not the weather conditions. When later that year we hosted Silesia Rebels and suddenly the blizzard strucked we didn’t panic – the offense put 59 points on the board while defense kept the goose egg and forced total -59yds (Minus fifty nine yards of total offense) – a nice present for freezing our butts off.

What about you do you practice indoors or outdoors in the offseason?

Happy Camper Alert

Recently the BigMen Academy focusing on Linemen has been conducted in France. The teaching materials will soon be available on myplaybook.eu website.

Christmas Football Movies Must Watch

How about watching a nice movie during Christmas? Tired of Home Alone and Die hard, here are some of my recommendations. Some of them have more football than others yet all are enjoyable and perfect for this time of year.

In no particular order :

Remember the Titans – Not sure if there were any Christmas scenes in it , but there is family, football and for the ladies ….. dancing Ryan Gosling

Silver Linings Playbook – simply “DeSean Jackson is the Man” and Chip Kelly has reversed the “Juju” of the franchise. Great acting, interesting plot and a Cowboys- Eagles game in week 17.

Ted- This one is for the Patriots Fans – after we have witnessed the Brady Magic this year I’m more than sure that if there is a QB that can save the Universe it will be Tom. Sorry Peyton there is pretty cold in space.

The Blind Side - Not only for the SEC and Ravens Fans – If you have younger siblings or cousins coming to your house – this one is a good one. Just get your popcorn ready

Jerry Maguire – Arguably one of the best football movies ever, watch it with your girl and you won’t feel like Blaine Gabbert pass- incomplete.

Christmas Wishes

For Christmas and upcoming 2014 I would like to wish all my football friends and readers of this article: